The Los Angeles Dodgers wrapped up their homestand with a 5-3 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks to extend their winning streak to five games. Walker Buehler couldn’t replicate the complete-game shutout he threw at Chase Field last month, but still managed to hold the Diamondbacks to just two runs over five innings.
The right-hander ran into a bases-loaded jam with nobody out in the fifth inning that he escaped behind back-to-back strikeouts and a groundout. He was aided in part by Gavin Lux not allowing a single to roll into the outfield.
“Big play by Lux to keep the ball in the infield and to keep that run from scoring,” Buehler said after the game. “And then I made a couple of pitches when I needed to, I think.
“Something I haven’t done as much this year as I have in the past, is kind of get out of stuff like that. Kind of a not great outing and kind of a good thing to go forward with.”
While Buehler improved to 5-1 on the season, he still isn’t where he wants to be with his heater. “Just trying to find my fastball again,” Buehler explained.
“I think velocity is one thing, and movement is the other, and trying to get it to move a little later, move a little more, throw a little faster, I think is always the thing. But today’s kind of one of those grimy days and you got the guy with the big orange beard to hit a homer and get us a sweep.”
With his fastball still a work in progress, Buehler mixed in more offspeed pitches against the Diamondbacks. “I mean, you got to try and find something,” Buehler answered when asked if he made any adjustments. “My slider wasn’t very good, threw some decent cutters.
“And obviously, the team that we face a lot kind of knows what I’m going to do, and curveball wasn’t quite as good as it was in Arizona. The cutter, they kind of did a pretty good job of laying off that one.
“So it seemed like every one they moved forward with was a hit as well. So they did a good job against me, I think, and just kind of trying to grind it out and keep us in the ball game.”
Buehler frustrated he couldn’t provide length
Buehler’s start against the Diamondbacks was the third time this month he failed to get past the fifth inning. “It’s extremely frustrating,” he said of not being able to provide length. “That’s a huge focus of mine and something that I took a lot of pride in last year especially.
“It’s tough to not go perform the way that you think you are able to or have been able to in the past. But we have a great team and great team behind me and kind of gives you that cushion to kind of find what you need and hopefully they start clicking a little bit more often.”
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